Many of us on this forum have been trapping for several decades .We remember the years when trappers where paying cash and buying a new truck .Many people over those years made many major purchases with their fur check . Of course it required that those that earned the money put in many long days and spent hours putting up their catch . However tired they where from the hard work they did day after day during the season was justified when it was time to sell their fur once the season ended .I have been following some of the comments posted on this forum for a number of years now .And many newer trappers do not realize just how much fur prices have risen and fallen over the years that many of us have been trapping . I started a long time go keeping notes about my trapping adventures .So I can look at my info and and know how many muskrats ,mink ,coon ,etc I caught each year and what those items sold for . So for example I sold my fur from the 1996 season at a trappers assoc. fur sale .Several buyers attend the sale and bid against each other for any lot of fur they my want to buy .From my paperwork I sold 25 rats (all of that years catch) for $6.60 each for a total of $165.00. I also received $20.75 ea for 10 coon for a total of $207.50 plus another 6 coon @$12.50 ea for a total of $75.00. That comes to $447 and change for 41 pelts .I remember that I was very happy with those numbers after the 1987 fur market crash wiped out the fur trade industry for about 6 to 8 years Now after some up and down years I will go to 2013 That year I shipped my fur to one of the fur market auction houses in Canada I averaged 27.75 each for 4 mink ,$12.38 each for 4 muskrats $23 ea for 17 coon which rounds of at about $485 .00 .Now in 2021 I again shipped to an auction house Due to predicted prices I did not attempt to catch as many coons as I had on other seasons i. I received $9.00 for 3 coyote ,.83 each for 6 coons for a total of $ 4.98 and I had 23 red fox at that sale .They sold for a total of $128.50 So those items grossed to a $142.48 amount Keep in mind that there is a commission charge for each sale of furs when selling through an auction house .So after the commission and other fees are taken off the amount will be a somewhat smaller number .Now also keep in mind that while he prices I gave for the 1996 sale where higher they did not equal what fur buyers where paying for fox,coon and muskrats in the 1970's and 80's . And than understand that gas was selling for about 50 cent a gallon at that time . So if you are like at least some of us longtime trappers we keep doing it because it has been a part of what we do IT IS NOT IN SOME WAYS A HOBBY OR A JOB IT IS A LIFESTYLE AND IT IS WHAT WE ARE RATHER THAN WHAT WE DO .

I agree I do it because I like it, but it’s nice to get a good cha Ching.

It sure Was

I averaged roughly 10 bucks for coyotes in 96. I think it takes at least 20 to buy what 10 bought in 96

And prior to the late 70's early 80's there were happy times in the 40's, 30's and 20's to consider. I used to hang out with an elderly neighbor who averaged $35 to $40 for beaver in the mid 40's. $40 would be about $662 in todays dollars. Newfox wouldn't you like to average $600 on your beaver?

I'd be happy to average 2$ on muskrats again. Got a 1$ average this last sale between 15 rats in the round and 25 finished.

A dollar rat in 2022 is the same as a 24 cent rat in 1979. I could get a quarter tap beer at the bar in 1979. I wonder if you can get tap beer for a buck in 2022?

I was comparing it to the analogy of his 6.60$ rat. I can make 3$ on a top rat, so that's a 3.60$ difference. How much was a gallon of gas compared to today? Let's say 2$ (Idk if this is close or not), a trapper could get 3 gallons of gas and have change left over. Now if I buy gas, I can almost get 1 gallon of gas.

I sure would BP, my dad told me they used to get $1/inch.

86 cents

A gallon of gas for a rat? That’d be sweet! I’d have to go south to the land of milk & honey to get that……hahaha

Idk how accurate that info is now since I just sold a few medium put up rats for 0.50$ a piece so. So about 6 rats now.

You realize how difficult it is to make a red fox gland lure with glands from live red foxes? Since no one is trapping red fox in numbers anymore to speak of, we have to chase live reds around and nip glands on the hoof. It's tricky.
The show must go on!

I remember when I was a kid dad trapping here in East Texas, had to have been the 80's.
I remember $20 coyotes and coons in the $30's
I remember him catching a few foxes that brought more and at least 1 bobcat that he got around $50 for

He probably had no more than 12 traps out at a time, just hobby trapping

I also remember my uncle and his BIL taking a flat bottom to a local lake and loading it down with nutria that someone was paying $2ea for on the carcass

What little I trap is for predator control and the self satisfaction

While in HS I sold put up rats for .75. Gas was .25 per gal. Therefore today I expect about $11 per rat!

That’s good, at least they’re moving. FHAs results were mainly unsold. I’d like to know how the whole fur industry works, the friend I met by shear coincidence died a couple months ago. Roger Toews was a grader at FHA. I responded to a no power call & we talked for about an hour before I changed the fuse at his transformer….hahaha. Always wanted to swing by one day and talk fur, get some pointers n stuff.
Gibb just put out a video on some tips on beaver, the conditions of the leather side is some great info.

I recall $12 rats at NAFA maybe ten years ago. Thats average. In a couple years went back to $3 something.

I did some quick research on the average price for a gallon of gas in the USA over the past 50 years . I remember buying gas at the beginning of the 1970's for .28 cents a gallon . During the decade of the 80,s the average price was $1.15 In the decade of the 90' it was $1.51 Than it was 2.79 on average for the years between 2000 to 2010 And the price continued go go even higher over the most recent decade .Right now i my area it is in the 3.55 to 3.70 range So in 1970 a dollar muskrat would have gotten me little over 3 gallons of gas Those rats I sold for $6.60 each in 1996 would have purchased almost 6 gallons of gas The next number to compare would be The $12. plus I received for rats is the highest amount I ever was paid for rats .That was 2013 and the average price for a gallon of gas then was $2.45 a gallon So that would be about 5 gallons of gas for each rat . Move forward to 2020 and I received an average of $ 4.98 on 31 red fox Right now the price of a gallon of gas is $3.55 and up So I can now purchase about 1.4 gallons of gas for the price of one red fox .danny clifton posted that he sold coyotes for about a $10 average . in 1996 And now he said he would need to catch 20 of them to get the same amount of money to have the same amount of money We all understand that sometimes in order to make more we need need to catch more . But when you are forever more putting more effort into it and getting a smaller return for that effort it becomes more difficult to make the investment of time and money .Most of us are already busy with jobs, hobbies ,family .And many of us also have other things that we would like to make time for .But since I was 9 or 10 years old I was out checking traps in the morning .And the things I learned about the responsibilities of becoming an adult through my time as a trapper have made the work worth it

As a 10 year old kid I remember getting .65 or .75 .and sometimes a dollar for rats that where not skinned .And I know it sounds a little strange on my part but if I could average $ 2or $3 average for put up rats I would want to catch at least some .Same thing for coons I would of course want more but if I could get $8 to $10 average for coon I would put them up also .

I remember in 83 in Northern Wisconsin in Oconto County Marshes I was getting up to 7 dollars for a put up rat. On Christmas day I sold a mink and a coon unskinned and got 100 dollars from the local buyer.